Need a new Video Card

So, it's time for a new video card. I never really needed one since I don't game on the PC much, but I've recently started to a bit, and it's just old and dying...occasionally it will fail without me even playing a game. And playing playing even something like Starcraft 2 on the lowest settings possible will cause some lag. After looking into it a bit, apparently it's a pretty awful video card for gaming. So I kind of want a better one at the same time as just needing one to replace it.

I have the NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS card, basically I'm looking for a video-card that can handle gaming pretty moderately (at least better than this one) at a fairly decent price. So I'm not sure how much you guys can help me out, but I don't know anything about video-cards, but this is what I'm looking for...

- Under $80.00...I'm not sure how expensive they are, I'd prefer something under $50 if possible
- Can handle PC gaming at a decent rate- I don't need anything high end at all. I'm not a hardcore gamer.
- Compatible with Dell DXP061 (is this an issue?)

Thanks for any help in advance, if anyone has any knowledge on the issue. I'll continue searching myself but I've got 0 knowledge on the topic so I'm kinda not exactly the best person for the job, so if I can get any help from someone who knows what the hell they're doing, that would be great!

do you know what type of power supply you have? you might need to upgrade that too if you want a better Video Card

u should try to get a 512mb card, not sure your Dell can take any higher


i would recommend that you save up and buy a new Computer, because this one will became obsolete soon too

Legend wrote:do you know what type of power supply you have? you might need to upgrade that too if you want a better Video Card

u should try to get a 512mb card, not sure your Dell can take any higher


i would recommend that you save up and buy a new Computer, because this one will became obsolete soon too

Yeah this computer works for me for what I do, but it's not really high quality by any standards (not anymore at least). It's at least 5 years old now, and has gone through quite a bit.

By 512 mb card you mean something like this right?

Not sure about the type of power supply. Can you find that out through your computer or only by physically looking at it?

I'm afraid you'll have to physically find that out by looking at the power supply. You'll also need to make sure that your motherboard has a PCI-express slot - all new cards are designed for PCI Express 2.1 but they're backwards compatible with other PCI Express slots. Just make sure it's not a regular PCI slot. That won't work and if you force it you'll break the card.

Since you want a card under $80 I'd say go for Radeon HD 6670. You can find one by Sapphire for $65 at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102988&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Video%20Cards-_-Sapphire%20Tech-_-14102988&AID=10440897&PID=3962334&SID=

There are cheaper cards out there but they're usually expensive if you compare and take performance into consideration. If you want to go for a cheaper alternative then perhaps you should take a look at Geforce GT 430. It's at $50 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130656&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Video%20Cards-_-EVGA-_-14130656&AID=10440897&PID=3962334&SID=

You could probably find each model cheaper elsewhere by other manufacturers. I just chose NewEgg since I'm not familiar with U.S. shops.

Good luck!

i would say save up and buy a computer for 300-400 during black friday (if your in US)

u can get pretty good deal on that day a get a good pc easily.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I'm going to spend a while evaluating this computer and seeing if it's even worth the money to get a new card or if I should get a new computer altogether.

So if you guys are willing to keep answering my endless questions, any cheaper, newer computers you guys would recommend? Or brands that are the best right now etc?

how long can you wait?

and i don't think it worth the money to upgrade it on your PC.... it's a dual core, and the most the GFX card will ever be will be 512mb. and in a year or so that was be laggy like hell too

better to wait until Black Friday when Prices are slashed 30-40%

Meh I'm not sure. I mean, the majority time the comp is fine, but every day it seems to get a bit worse.

I don't know about what this is, but if I hit the desk the computer is on with my knee slightly hard (on accident) the computer will freeze. Not really sure why it seems to freeze from being "hit" moderately hard.

Any idea what that is?

You need to post your system otherwise no answer makes sense. If your PC is too slow no video card would make it faster.
Post CPU, Ram and stats of your power supply. Also, post the brand of your power supply.

Immortal Babun wrote:You need to post your system otherwise no answer makes sense. If your PC is too slow no video card would make it faster.
Post CPU, Ram and stats of your power supply. Also, post the brand of your power supply.

not just his system specs but also what u plan to achieve with this new graphics card, gaming or high end software? also how long u plan to rely on this card before switching to a better one.

yep like immortal babun spanky and co, said. maybe try saving money and buy the entire CPU, nowadays due to graphics demands, just having a say cheap 512 MB graphics card wont help u anyway.

also with certain graphics card it needs to meet ur CPU spec. especially the graphics port, be very specific. say if ur pc is too old, i dont know much about ur graphics card, but if ur mother board has AGP port then its not good enough. nowadays modern graphics cards on sale are all, PCI express based.

well so thats why, i would suggest save money and just wait for some kind of discount moments to happen. buy a new CPU with new graphics card already assembled on it. nowadays the entire CPU with graphics card, processor, RAM, HDD altogether is much cheaper to buy than 1 graphics card.

Most likely going to buy a new comp instead. It seems to make more sense given my situation. Thanks for the responses everybody, I really appreciate it.